It was just a normal day for the KC-135 Stratotanker crew. A routine air refueling mission? It was a little more than that. On Aug. 17, 2020 the 171st Air Refueling Wing provided 100 thousand pounds of fuel to a B-1B Lancer from Ellsworth Air Force Base, South Dakota.
The tanker from Pittsburgh was the lead jet in a 4-ship formation, the others were from MacDill Air Force Base, Fairchild AFB and Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam. Each tanker refueled a Lancer. The bombers were on their way to the East Sea to meet up with the Koku Jieitai, or Japan Air Self-Defense Force, for routine interoperability training.
While there, they conducted training together that further strengthened the allied partnership. Together four B-1B Lancers, two B-2 Spirit Stealth Bombers, four F-15C Eagles conducted Bomber Task Force missions within the Indo-Pacific region over the course of 24 hours. This demonstrated the readiness to deliver wide-range support in a moment’s notice.